Cover Michael Tay, group managing director of The Hour Glass, is the brainchild behind IAMWATCH
Michael Tay, group managing director of The Hour Glass, is the brainchild behind IAMWATCH
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Think of IAMWATCH as the Comic-Con for die-hard watch enthusiasts. Scheduled to take place over a weekend in October in Singapore, it will spotlight independent artisanal watchmaking through an interactive gathering of watchmakers and enthusiasts.
As a watch lover, meeting the maker of your favourite timepiece is always a thrilling experience. But such opportunities are rare. Encounters with independent watchmakers, who often operate on a small scale, are even rarer, making them all the more special.
This is exactly what makes IAMWATCH one of the most anticipated events of the year, as it gathers an impressive slate of creatives in the independent watchmaking universe, from industry superstars Maximilian Büsser and Konstantin Chaykin to rising names like Pierre Biver and Remy Cools, in a single space over three days. Curated to encourage meaningful face-to-face interactions, the programme features intimate breakfast gatherings, lectures, masterclasses, film screenings, and ample opportunities for engaging discussions between enthusiasts and watchmakers.
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Organised by The Hour Glass, from October 18 - 20, it will be held at the new Singapore EDITION hotel. Michael Tay, the group managing director of The Hour Glass, gets on a call with Tatler GMT to share more about the excitement surrounding this inaugural event.
What inspired the creation of IAMWATCH?
In the last five to 10 years, both enthusiasts as well as our partners have been requesting for us to resurrect Tempus, one of the first enthusiast-facing watch expositions in the world. But we don’t like to replicate what we had done before. We wanted something pioneering and groundbreaking—it has to be fresh. And with this in mind, we thought of this very interesting genre of artisanal watchmaking, something The Hour Glass has been supporting for nearly 45 years. In 1980, we started working with Gerald Genta. In 1991, we supported Philippe Dufour and Daniel Roth—and the rest is history.
Artisanal watchmaking as a genre has really come to the fore since Covid, but there was no enthusiast platform that celebrated this genre of watchmaking. Hence, IAMWATCH.
Why is it important to have this type of gathering with enthusiasts and watchmakers?
The watch industry is an industry of people, of relationships. I designed this with a watch enthusiast mindset, something I would really enjoy attending. It's all about community engagement and our role is to facilitate people-to-people engagement. It is what continues to motivate and inspire enthusiastic collectors in this field of artisanal watchmaking and artisanal watch collecting.
Let me give you an example. The contemporary art market is supported by collectors, enthusiasts and patrons. People are always looking out for the next interesting thing. And why do people enjoy collecting contemporary art? It's because of the opportunity to engage with the living makers and the living artists of our generation and our era. In 50 years time, you would be able to share these anecdotes and memories with your grandchildren, how you were part of this wonderful, incredibly charged and dynamic scene, and how you contributed to its evolution.
We try to facilitate this type of engagement for artisanal watchmaking. Collectors of this genre are interested because they get to meet the makers themselves.
Gaël Petermann and Florian Bédat of Petermann Bédat
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How did you come up with the list of participants?
They are all friends—some old friends, some newer friends. What binds us all together is our interest and desire to advance artisanal watchmaking, and our interest in watches. It’s easy to form friendships in this area because, while there is some commercial element, the passion for what you're doing outweighs any commercial consideration.
What was your main consideration when curating the programme?
The core philosophy of The Hour Glass has always been to advance watch culture. That’s our overriding corporate mission. There is a high degree of education embedded in whatever we do because we believe that knowledge leads to a stronger enthusiasm for sharing.
In developing the programme, we wanted to make sure that the people attending understand not just what contemporary artisanal watchmaking is about, but also the historical journey that shaped its current state. A lot of the members of the public associate the watch industry with the luxury sector. I’ve always combated against this as timekeeping existed well before an established notion of the luxury industry. It has deep roots in science and innovation. You’re touching on Applied Physics, on Applied Materials Science, with the last 500 years being extremely prolific in terms of scientific discovery and innovation. So when you think about what a watch entails, it goes far deeper than just an object to convey status. And that is one of the fundamental objectives of IAMWATCH.
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Above Former curator of timekeeping at the Royal Observatory Greenwich and author David Rooney will be giving a series of talks on the history of timekeeping at IAMWATCH (Photo: Simon Camper Lumen Photography)
Former curator of timekeeping at the Royal Observatory Greenwich and author David Rooney will be giving a series of talks on the history of timekeeping at IAMWATCH (Photo: Simon Camper Lumen Photography)
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What do you personally look forward to at IAMWATCH?
I look forward to engaging with people. We have people flying in from all over the world, from as far as New York and Seattle. I’m looking forward to having the enthusiasts meet the makers—it’s an event by nerds for nerds! But even if you’re new to the scene, you’re going to meet a lot of interesting people. This is a great platform for people to learn and meet other enthusiasts.
Please explain the double-wristed dress code.
It has very much to do with the context and the environment. At IAMWATCH, we want to express the qualities of a resort and the casualness in this category of watch collecting. I want to dispense with the formality because it really it fits in perfectly with the nature of the city. We're a very casual nation and the environment lends itself to being in shorts, T-shirts and sneakers all day. We want people to come double-wristed and if you were wearing a jacket or a suit, you won't be able to see the two watches. It’s great if people wear two watches because that just means there will be more things to talk about.
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Brian Cheong leads the watch (Tatler GMT) and jewellery content at Tatler Malaysia, combining sharp editorial insight with years of luxury lifestyle experience. A seasoned journalist in luxury watches based in Kuala Lumpur, Brian had previously helmed World of Watches, Men's Folio and Prestige Malaysia.
